


To Not Be Cold

by raven_aorla



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:58:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "Can I have something The Spine/Peter Six? With Six being really curious and maybe a little guilty, and The Spine doting on him?"</p><p>[Not my characters, no profit but perversion.]</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Not Be Cold

"Peter." 

He knew the voice, knew it as well as he knew his parents' or aunt's or uncle's, every day of his life those rich tones had been stalwart and steady. While his mother could be placated and his father distracted or misdirected, the Spine's quiet persistence always won in the end.

But he still pulled the blankets further over his head. "Go away."

"You've been hiding for four days now, Peter, and since your human family all have failed to convince you to at least take a shower and have a hot meal they've said if I have to physically haul you downstairs to get you to emerge, well, that's what I'll do." Hissing hydraulics edged nearer, the floorboards creaking under metal feet, and the Spine put a hand on the covers.

"Wait - wait, I don't have my mask on..."

The Spine peeled back the improvised coccoon regardless. "It's just the two of us. I've seen plenty of strange and upsetting things before, and even if your face was as disgusting as you seem to think it is it wouldn't bother me. Come on."

Six grudgingly sat up. "It's not fair of them to send you."

The Spine quirked an eyebrow. "And why is that?" He didn't wear the suit he used for performances and to receive guests when it was just the usual members of the household around; a long-sleeved button-up white shirt and dark jeans covered much of his smooth metal now. 

"Because I've never been good at saying no to you, while at the same time you've always been good at saying no to me." There was more to that, a lot more to that, but Peter had never felt like discussing it and he had no interest in doing so now.

Oh gosh, the Spine was tilting his head to the side and gazing at him with intense concentration. "You're not...you're not just hiding your..."

Six balled his hands into fists. "Shut up."

"No." Like it was a law of the universe. "I'm going to get you some water, and when I come back you're going to drink it all, and then you're going to tell me whether this is specifically because you and me or if there's a more general issue."

It took immense force of will for Six not to burrow back into the blankets all over again, but he decided to at least try to act like an adult. And when the Spine returned with a frosty glass of water Six realized upon first sip that he'd been incredibly thirsty without noticing it and gulped the whole tumbler down in less than a minute. When he finished the Spine took the glass and put it on the nightstand, then gazed at him with his glowing green eyes, until speaking felt like the least awkward of his current options. "I don't know how much it is of a thing. Which, incredibly incoherent, but okay. I don't - look, the odds were stacked against me being able to function with normal humans from the start. I don't think any of the Peter Walters are good at it. I haven't sorted out much of how my own mind words because I can't hook myself up to a computer and read the schematics. I don't know how I feel about everyone and everything. But I want things that I don't think are okay. Cause - cause you're family, and you're so much older than me, and it's not like my ancestor built you for anything like that and how freaky can it be and I legally own you so how can any of that be right?"

The Spine laid a hand gently on the side of Six's neck. "You don't have an accelerated heart rate or a fever, and it's not particularly cold in this room, but you're shivering."

"Yes." He wondered a lot exactly how much the Spine - and to a lesser extent the other automatons - had picked up over the decades when it came to understanding the complex tangle of emotions and thoughts and hormones that raged through every human, and how it compared to their own processors and protocols. The Spine, Rabbit, and the Jon always claimed to have no memories of the worst of their war experiences since his father had reassembled and reprogramed them after they were shipped back from Vietnam in more boxes than anyone would want to see anyone they loved. But Peter V had admitted that it wasn't possible to wipe everything horrible from their memories without risking catastrophic damage to their personalities. Given that their principal objective in existence was to protect and serve the humans of Walter Robotics it was highly probable that they would not hesitate to lie to spare the humans further grief. 

Which added to the turbulence in Six's thoughts when the Spine scooped him into his arms like he was a kid again and lowered them both into the armchair on the other side of the room. "My boiler's a lot warmer than my extremities. And I wouldn't want to crush you."

Why, why, why must something about this situation make his body think arousal was an at all appropriate response? Six squirmed in his seat, conflicted, because the Spine's core did radiate welcome heat and he did feel safer here, cared-for here, but he had spent all this life flouting shame as a purely societal construct and hated how ashamed he felt now. 

But the Spine only hummed a little, low, like a kindly-disposed panther, and kissed the top of the young man's head. "If you don't like something because you don't like it, tell me, but if you want to object to something you like because you think you shouldn't like it I am not interested in hearing it." At which point he slid a hand into Peter VI's pajama bottoms and wrapped dextrous fingers around his erection.

If Six whimpered embarassingly at that, at least the Spine did seem serious about not judging him. The Spine's other arm was wrapped around his waist, anchoring him, and he found himself bunching the Spine's shirt behind him in his shaking grip. "How are you...when did you learn...I know you don't have any..."

The Spine chuckled, but not in a mocking way. "The song 'Me and My Baby' doesn't actually say my dance partners are of any one gender, does it now? Besides, soldiers in any time and place will need comfort and get it in lots of different ways. You're overthinking. Just be."

So he simply was, and when he arrived and coated the Spine's hand with far more body fluid than he knew the Spine was usually enthused about, the Spine made no objections and after an initial cursory wipe helped him to the nearest bathroom. "Do you want company in the shower, Peter?" he asked, letting Six lean on him to undress himself properly. 

A little dazed but more solid inside than he'd felt in a while, Six said, "I suppose you won't rust. If you don't mind."

"I don't." Before either of them actually stepped in, before the Spine removed his clothes in turn, the Spine pulled the shower curtain across the empty expanse and turned on the hot water, filling the room with steam. 


End file.
